In 2006 I moved to Qatar and things are not what many people in North America would expect - it is not like how the Middle East is portrayed in the media. I'm also a fan of skepticism and science so wondered how this works here in Qatar. Since I'm here for a while I figured I'd use the time to get to know this country better and with this blog you can learn along with me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - So what posts have been popular recently . . .

Monday, June 05, 2017

So . . . Things Have Gotten a Little Tense in Qatar

Woke up today to the news that UAE, Bahrain, Saudi and Egypt were cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar, blocking their airports, ports and borders from Qatari planes, ships etc. and demanding Qataris leave their countries.

I am not clear on why it is happening. Rumours abound and while the Western media are offering possible reasons I don't know if anyone knows the real story of what is going on. I haven't read what UAE et al are demanding from Qatar to fix this.

While there have been recent troubles: the Qatar News Agency was hacked and published an inflammatory (and I'm pretty sure fake) speech credited to the Emir; and recently the UAE Ambassador to the US allegedly had his email hacked and the hackers were leaking damning stuff that they found. Both sides were getting their feathers ruffled but I don't think that would have been enough for a response like this. I'm guessing some long-simmering tensions have bubbled to the surface.

So things here are tense but otherwise fine. I stocked up on some groceries. While there were rumours of panic buying and empty shelves it wasn't the case in the two places I visited. They were busy but it was orderly and there was plenty of food and I didn't see any empty shelves. I didn't wait longer than 5 minutes at the register.